Learning spaces in the Bramall Music Building

Our facilities in the new £16 million Bramall Music Building include a 450-seat concert hall designed by renowned acoustician Nicholas Edwards of Acoustic Dimensions (Symphony Hall Birmingham, Symphony Centre Dallas, Royal Shakespeare Theatre).

This is the most adaptable space of its kind in any University in the UK. The concert hall and its acoustics can be configured for rehearsals and performances ranging from solo recitals to full symphony orchestra, 200-strong University Choir, multi-projector video and music-theatre presentations, and the electroacoustic studios’ 100-channel sound diffusion system (the ‘BEAST’). A new pipe organ – the first to be built in this country by the renowned French builder Marc Garnier – was installed in summer 2014.

The Dome Rehearsal Room provides a second flexible space for rehearsals, whether for solos and ensembles or a full symphony orchestra. It can be configured, too, for small-scale recitals or theatrical performances.

A range of teaching spaces in the Bramall Building include seminar rooms which double as spaces for rehearsals, practice rooms, and a recording studio linked to the concert hall and Dome rehearsal room. There are rooms in which our large collection of early music instruments are housed and used for teaching and rehearsal, and a range of electroacoustic studios including a large teaching studio whose computers are equipped with composition and music-processing software (Sibelius).

The new building also features social spaces, in which students can relax or meet to discuss their projects, and a coffee bar.